GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2021) The COVAX Facility, which helps low to middle income countries gain access to vaccines, will immediately receive 110 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from the Chinese companies Sinopharm and Sinovac, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) said on Monday.
"Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced today that it had signed advance purchase agreements (APAs) with Sinopharm for its 'BBIBP-CorV' inactivated virus vaccine against COVID-19 as well as with Sinovac for its inactivated virus vaccine against COVID-19, 'CoronaVac.' The agreements, which come at a time when the Delta variant is posing a rising risk to health systems, will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available to participants of the COVAX Facility, with options for additional doses," GAVI said in a statement.
Potential future supplies by Sinovac will amount to 380 million doses from July 2021 till mid-summer 2022. Sinopharm could provide a possible total of 170 million doses over the same period.
The World Health Organization authorized the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use early in May and CoronaVac, produced by Sinovac, early in June.
The COVAX Facility is a global initiative, administered by GAVI and responsible for development, production and distribution of COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines worldwide. Its portfolio currently consists of 11 vaccines and vaccine candidates, including AstraZeneca/Oxford, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech.
